TX:Come and Take It means to Restore Open Carry Protections

Gun Watch ^ | 24 August, 2013 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

Some people may not know that the Texas revolution for independence against dictatorial rule, like the American revolution, started with an attempt to disarm the citizens.

When the upstart government of Santa Anna, who had taken over the Mexican state in a coup, tried to take a small cannon that the citizens of Gonzales, Texas had for defense against hostile indians, the citizens put into English the famous Greek phrase of the Spartans,  Molon Labe and said:

Come and take it!

One of the flags at the recent open carry demonstration in Kingwood, a Houston suburb

It has been taken as the moniker in Kingwood, Texas by an open carry group determined to restore and defend their rights under the Second Amendment and the Texas Constitution.  The original Texas declaration of rights of 1836 and the constitution of 1845 had strong right to keep and bear arms protections.  From the 1836 declaration of rights:

"Every citizen shall have the right to bear arms in defence of himself and the republic."

 and the 1845 Texas Constitution:

 "Every citizen shall have the right to keep and bear arms in the lawful defence of himself and the State."

Texas sided with the Confederacy in the War between the States, or Civil War, if you prefer.  They lost, and the carpetbagger government created a new Texas Constitution in 1869.    That Constitution gutted the right to keep and bear arms.

 "Every person shall have the right to keep and bear arms in the lawful defense of himself or the state, under such regulations as the legislature may prescribe."

 In 1872  and 1873, Texas voted out the carpetbagger government.  The governor begged the federal government for troops to keep him in power, but none were sent.  He fled the governor's mansion as an impromptu militia of armed citizens advanced on it.

The post reconstruction Texas approved of a new Constitution in 1876.  It had stronger protection of the right to keep and bear arms , but left in a crucial loophole for the legislature.  It provided that the legislature could regulate the wearing of arms with respect to fighting crime.

"Every citizen shall have the right to keep and bear arms in the lawful defence of himself or the State; but the Legislature shall have power by law to regulate the wearing of arms, with a view to prevent crime."

The legislature did not repeal the reconstruction ban on the carrying of arms, and the courts refused to invalidate the law under the 1876 Constitution.   The law was widely used to disarm former slaves and others out of favor with the local authorities.   Democrats would control Texas for over a century.

With the Republican revolution of 1994, after decades of abuse of the prohibition on bearing arms on the person, the legislature passed a restrictive shall issue concealed carry law, which has been incrementally improved.

In 2007 Texas codified "travel" to mean any time you were in your vehicle.  Texans could now carry a handgun in their vehicles without a permit, but the handgun had to be concealed.

Texas is only one of six states that forbids the open carry of handguns.

The open carry movement in Texas, wishing to have the freedoms that 44 other states enjoy, has started to demonstrate the open carry of rifles and shotguns, because they are not allowed to open carry handguns.

Notice the "Come and Take It" flag in black and white, and the banner

Oklahoma has recently restored the right to carry handguns openly to "shall issue" permit holders.  An open carry demonstration is  scheduled for  Arkansas to enforce a change in the law.    Numerous settlements have been gained from police departments who abuse open carry rights in Washington, Michigan, Wisconsin, Virginia,  Pennsylvania, and others.

California is the only fish to be swimming upstream against this tide.   It banned open carry of even unloaded handguns in 2011 and rifles and shotguns in 2012.  The laws are being challenged in the courts.

More demonstrations are being planned for Texas in the coming months.  Many Texas legislators are sympathetic.
 
What will happen in the next legislative session remains to be seen.


 ©2013 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.

Link to Gun Watch

[Windflier]

Something might happen next session if Strauss is removed

A lot of good things will happen in Texas if Speaker Straus is removed. That man is almost single-handedly holding this state back.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[marktwain]

Wisconsin had the situation that Governor Doyle, a far left nut-job, kept the state from passing a shall issue concealed carry bill for about 7 years.

In the end, the resulting bill was better than anything that could have passed under his horrible administration.

[stevie_d_64]

Kingwood has always been pizzed after the City of Houston annexed it for revenue purposes...

And couple that with a really poor implementation of “city services” (i.e.: adequagte fire, police presense) those folks have been looking for ways to basically give the City of Houston the middle finger and a big Heave-Ho since then...

This is just another burr under the saddle for this state, and I hope it irritates the hell out of the state Legislature for a long time...

But as for the issue at hand, technically it is a third rail on the track of gun rights...There would need to be a tremendous change in the Texas Panal Code, along with a revision to Section 30.06 and Section 42 that would require a lot of work from our state government, and those guys and gals don’t want to broach the subject of open carry in this state while we have had monumental successes with the Concealed Carry program since 1995/96...

Even the most stalwart of defenders of the RKBA in Texas are a little squeemish about tackling the issue of O.C. in this state...By dropping the issue early on back in the early 90’s, we were able to get Concealed Carry going and have tweeked that law over the years, very successfully...

Personally I would not mind the “option” to carry openly, but like many other places where I have traveled where it is allowed and accepted by most people, folks are more mobile, and are not local if you encounter them, and they might not be as well versed in the carry laws of that particular state...So I lean more towards the side of surprise, than letting someone else know I have the means to defend myself, and others, if you wanna get a little rambunktious...

Are YOU prepared, even if you are in a state that allows it, to be stopped, and questioned by Law Enforcement, which WILL be called to make contact with you when Joe Q. Pantie-in-a-wad-wearing Public calls in with a “Man with a gun” call???

Are YOU prepared mentally and physically for that encounter??? I’ve seen a lot of them go very well, and I have seen a lot of them go very bad for those willing to push the envelope back a smidge...

I really wish there was an easier path for this effort...There are a lot of things politically and socially working against such changes...EVEN THOUGH WE ARE RIGHT TO BROACH THE SUBJECT!!!

We need to be good ambassadors of our current allowances, even though we shouldn’t have to, we still need to be very humble and guarded with our own advances...We will eventually win more people to our side of the equation if we keep calm and press on with bigger,more threatening fish to fry up...

Just my opinion...

[stevie_d_64]

I agree...I ran into that ink-stain a couple of times last legislative session...What a political putz!!! But he does have a LOT of democrat support!!!

Ironic isn’t it???

It’s going to be harder and harder to unseat him if he wins another term as Speaker...Apparently there were not enough reps this last time to really put up a fight after twhat the Strauss machine did to a lot that did oppose him...

Reminds me of what I was told by others about LBJ...

I see the same thing happening...

[marktwain]

I have done it many times.

It has always worked out well for me.

Someone has to be willing to take the step. I think the Come and Get It organization in Texas is going the right way.

It would *not* be a monumental effort to change the law. These type of changes are done all the time.

Getting the political will to do it... now that is the difficulty, but I think it will be done at some point.

[stevie_d_64]

You may be right...I know of some people who have been trying the OC thing for years...We came close a couple of times, but there has always been something done or said that really turns off the politicos at some point in the process...No matter ho wit has been played...

That doesn’t mean give up...Of course...

What I have seen is the risk OC does to the Texas Penal Code, and the carrying of weapons in ANY establishment, there are risks to the carrying in establishments that post that 30.06 provisions, that could make it easier for ANYONE and ANYTHING to post it where you used to be able to carry concealed...

Is anyone ready to accept those risks and desiresa of those businesses and entities that WILL post restrictive notices, and enforce them, if we obtain our OC provision???

Thats what it will incur, if it is not pressed into the Legislation just right...

Like I said, I’d like the option to do so, but I caution the approach...

There have been many discussions about this over at texasCHLforum.com, where a whole gaggle of us have tackled and re-tackled this issue every two years since I can recall...

The guy that owns that website is, and has been on the NRA Board of Directors for many years, and don’t hold it against him, he’s a lawyer, and was part of the initial drafting of our Texas CHL law back in the day with Jerry Patterson and the rest of us at the time it was being formulated...We have been looking at the OC issue for a very long time, and one of my tactics =was to look at it from the standpoint to make OC such a poison pill, that no one would want to touch it...

I’d always say, “Be careful what you wish for...”

I will never stand in the way of someone wanting to push this button again...But I do tell as many as I can, be prepared for dissapointment...

[Windflier]

It’s going to be harder and harder to unseat him if he wins another term as Speaker...Apparently there were not enough reps this last time to really put up a fight after twhat the Strauss machine did to a lot that did oppose him...

There were enough. There just weren't enough with the stones to stand up for Texas. I hope every one of those weasels loses their next election bid.

[stevie_d_64]

Like I illuded to earlier...Be prepared for dissapointment...

But putting that aside, you are right, it would be refreshing to see a stand put up against the machine that seems to feed off of both political parties in Austin...

But you are not going to see many “mavericks” in Texas politics in the near future...With the pressure from the minority democrats in Austin being bolstered by the national (DNC) rabble...They have set their sites high this election cycle...

They want Texas to NOT be a factor for the next few years, if not ever again, as far as they are concerned...

I would love to disspoint them myself, but I am concerned that there is not enough courage in the voting base, or the elected caste of characters to ward off much more of this nonsense...

So where does that leave us???

Does the conservative base in this state have the balls to fire a lot of incumbents and put in true conservatives...

If I was a betting man, I would not put my money on it...We may squeek through this next cycle, but Texas, politically, will be that much more weaker state-wise and nationally after this one...

I hate to sound so defeatist, but I have seen this coming for a long time...And those I counsel with in district and out of it, around this state are feeling the pressure, and they are failing miserably...Some of us do what we can to bolster them up as much as anyone can, but it is not an easy job...

I try to instill a sense of empathy, I know what they are having to do, and some don’t like it, but the ones I am most concerned with are the ones that do not see it coming down the road yet, and by the time they wake up, its too late...And you can only carry them so far...

As voters and political insiders, we need to be prepared for some rough seas ahead, and be prepared to step in and make some hard changes, no matter how you feel about a certain politician you may have really liked in the past and give them a break by allowing someone with some vision, true virtue, and considerable, unapologetic conservatism take up the fight...

The republican party, from which I am a part of had better start realizing they are going to keep losing with this feckless approach to this states, much less the countries future if they continue to coddle the moderate path, and appeasing the opposition and trying to be liked by the media and their audience...

Screw them!!!

[marktwain]

IMHO, it has very little to do with the courage of the base, and everything with being able to get the message out.

The MSM controls most of the media, so we have to get out message out with the new media. I believe that is what Ted Cruz did.

If we can get our message out, we win. It is very hard to do with the stranglehold the “progressives” from both parties have on the old media.

Forturnately, the Old Media is dying, hence my tagline.

[stevie_d_64]

So is Ted Cruz a part of a new media movement???

Are there others who are part of that as well???

As far as I am concerned, the “base” needs to cut the cord with a lot of what we see and hear on TV and the radio, stick to finding out their own answers and stop relying on others to do the research for them...

I believe that makes the base even smarter, and the time spent staying informed by doing your own work is better time management IMO...Sure you’ll still need facts, but even then facts are few and hard to find, and that is the challenge...Nobody said being politically informed would be easy...

It is hard to sift through the riff-raff and read between the lines these days...It takes a lot of time to develop that keen sense...And even when you think you got it...You make mistakes, mis-judgements...And for the most part thats ok, the opposition is way behind us anyway, we just have folks who think for themselves, and we need more of that...

I believe there are too many distractions that the media puts out there to take attention off important issues and events...That’s rather obvious...

Some of our efforts are working, we probably should do some things differently, like not pander to demographies in the approaches that are in play now...

FYI, its late and I’m a bit foggy...I’ll be glad to pick this up tomorrow with anyone interested...

Be back later...